“He (a terrorist) is not fit to be called a human. He’s an animal so what is required is animal rights” said Justice Arijit Pasayat, the second pusine judge of the Supreme Court of India while addressing a conference on terrorism recently.
While condemning the terrorists as being undeserving of the protection of human rights, he said that human rights activists ought not to waste their time agitating for providing even a modicum of rights to these animals. These words would per se be quite unwelcome from anyone, but coming from one of the twenty-four guardians of our democracy, they are alarming.
With all respect due to the judge, I must differ. The basic minimal set of rights, available even to the most depraved criminal or the perpetrator of the most heinous terrorist crimes, is also a sacred charge on humanity and must never be allowed to be stripped, on pain of losing the very essence of humanity.
